Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what proportion of research funding is allocated to epilepsy research; and if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of this proportion.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Medical Research Council (MRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has committed a total of over £25.5 million since 2018/19 on epilepsy research, including over £9.5 million in 2024/25. This research spans discovery science and fundamental understanding of the disease, through to new approaches for diagnosis and intervention. MRC also supports epilepsy research within its portfolio of larger investments. For example, this includes a new MRC Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Restorative Neural Dynamics which aims to develop brain stimulation devices to treat a range of conditions including childhood epilepsy, and the UK data platform for Traumatic Brain Injury research (TBI-REPORTER) which includes post-traumatic epilepsy as one of the areas of focus.
The Department of Health and Social Care also funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR has funded a range of ongoing epilepsy research and has awarded £12.8 million to studies in the last five financial years. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including alternative treatments for epilepsy.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much funding her Department plans to provide to help improve IT skills in the next 12 months.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will spend up to £42m across the 2026/27 financial year and £187 million over the next four years delivering the TechFirst programme. As announced by the Prime Minister in June 2025, TechFirst is designed to strengthen the UK’s domestic tech talent pipeline by improving the IT and digital skills of children in secondary schools, as well as undergraduate, masters, and PhD students. The TechFirst programme also includes a grant fund to help skilled individuals into work.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure broadband providers have robust governance and independent assurance arrangements in place, including internal audit, to support cyber resilience and protect digital infrastructure.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government keeps the financial health of the market under close review and Ofcom have powers to request financial information from providers. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021, and its associated Regulations and Code of Practice introduced a robust security framework requiring public telecoms providers to identify, reduce, and prepare for security and resilience risks.
We recently held a public consultation on proposed updates to the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice, which provides guidance on how public telecoms providers can meet their statutory requirements to secure their networks and services. These include requirements relating to reviews, governance and board responsibilities. Ofcom monitor and enforce these requirements.
In response to the consultation, the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors raised the matter of independent assurance arrangements. We are now carefully reviewing all feedback to the consultation to ensure that any updates to the Code of Practice are appropriate and proportionate.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of independent assurance arrangements in place by broadband providers, including internal audit, to support the identification, management and mitigation of major risks.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government keeps the financial health of the market under close review and Ofcom have powers to request financial information from providers. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021, and its associated Regulations and Code of Practice introduced a robust security framework requiring public telecoms providers to identify, reduce, and prepare for security and resilience risks.
We recently held a public consultation on proposed updates to the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice, which provides guidance on how public telecoms providers can meet their statutory requirements to secure their networks and services. These include requirements relating to reviews, governance and board responsibilities. Ofcom monitor and enforce these requirements.
In response to the consultation, the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors raised the matter of independent assurance arrangements. We are now carefully reviewing all feedback to the consultation to ensure that any updates to the Code of Practice are appropriate and proportionate.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to take steps to require all major broadband providers to operate with an internal audit function.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government keeps the financial health of the market under close review and Ofcom have powers to request financial information from providers. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021, and its associated Regulations and Code of Practice introduced a robust security framework requiring public telecoms providers to identify, reduce, and prepare for security and resilience risks.
We recently held a public consultation on proposed updates to the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice, which provides guidance on how public telecoms providers can meet their statutory requirements to secure their networks and services. These include requirements relating to reviews, governance and board responsibilities. Ofcom monitor and enforce these requirements.
In response to the consultation, the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors raised the matter of independent assurance arrangements. We are now carefully reviewing all feedback to the consultation to ensure that any updates to the Code of Practice are appropriate and proportionate.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of business events on economic growth.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Business events can generate economic growth, create jobs, and boost the visitor economy across the country. In 2024, business events contributed a reported £33.6 billion to the UK economy as a whole according to data from UK Events.
The average business traveller spends more than double that of a leisure tourist (£209 v £101) and, with 38% taking place outside of London, business events are an example of how events can support economic growth across the UK
The British Tourist Authority also supports organisations in attracting international business events across UK cities via the Business Events Growth Programme. In the 2024-25 financial year, the programme financially supported 36 international events across Britain and generated an additional £27.5 million in expenditure. These events were aligned with key Government priority sectors including healthcare and life sciences, engineering and manufacturing, technology, renewable energy and creative industries.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
For FY24/25, DSIT spent £159,000 on LinkedIn subscriptions and £1,221,168 on other subscriptions. DSIT uses its LinkedIn subscription to support with recruitment efforts including role advertisement and usage of LinkedIn Insights which supports with strategic workforce planning. With more than 44 million registered users in the UK as of January 2025, LinkedIn offers DSIT the ability to promote live vacancies to as many potential external candidates as possible. This is particularly important for DSIT’s critical digital and data vacancies, whereby it is estimated that more than half of our applicants come from outside of the civil service market.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the total cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff in the last year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
For the last financial year, the total cost to DSIT of payments associated with settlement agreements is set out in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dsit-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025
Where relevant, this includes special severance payments that have associated settlement agreements.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to review the use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to ensure it can effectively detect vehicles with obscured or altered number plates.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
No assessment of potential financial losses as a result of vehicles using obscured or false number plates has been made.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.
The DVLA is part of the British Standard Institute (BSI) committee that has recently reviewed the current standard for number plates. The proposed amendments are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025. Officials are also considering options to ensure a more robust, auditable process which would enable tighter checks on number plate suppliers.
Standards on the use of automated number plate reader technology is a matter for the Home Office which issues guidance on its use as part of the National ANPR Standards for Policing and Law Enforcement (NASPLE).
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate the Government has made of the financial losses suffered by businesses as a result of vehicles using obscured or false number plates to commit fuel theft or evade charges.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
No assessment of potential financial losses as a result of vehicles using obscured or false number plates has been made.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.
The DVLA is part of the British Standard Institute (BSI) committee that has recently reviewed the current standard for number plates. The proposed amendments are intended to stop the production of number plates with raised characters and will prevent easy access to plates with ‘ghost’ characteristics. The proposals will also prevent suppliers from adding acrylic letters and numbers to the surface of the number, meaning any finished number plate must be flat. The proposed changes have been subject to a public consultation which closed on 13 December 2025. Officials are also considering options to ensure a more robust, auditable process which would enable tighter checks on number plate suppliers.
Standards on the use of automated number plate reader technology is a matter for the Home Office which issues guidance on its use as part of the National ANPR Standards for Policing and Law Enforcement (NASPLE).